Aphid invasion

Hi all,
I've got an aphid invasion that I can't seem to get rid of. They are
particularly fond on attacking my mint plants.
My mint is situated in various areas in the house. A box is situated
outside in the balcony. 2 pots as in the kitchen where they catch the
morning sun. Another pot is in the living room catching the afternoon
sun.
The plants were originally planted in a garden, but I removed parts and
placed them inside. I have cut all the leaves when I noticed the aphids
some 4 or 5 weeks ago. I also sprayed some kind of anti-aphid spray on
the leaves and affected stems. I've tried a a homemade pesticide of 1TB
dish-washing liquid and 1L water. I've also tried spray tap-water to
sort of "hose them off"... nothing worked....
Anybody has any more suggestions or solutions.
Thanks,
Max

[snip
Short of nuclear weapons, there isn't much you can to do to eliminate
aphids.
dish washing soap and water spray helps kill them by dehydrating them.
Pesticides temporarily work. You'll need to keep it up for a few weeks to
eliminate the current aphids and the eggs.
Check to see if you have an ant problem as well, ants often protect aphids
from predators like ladybugs.

I haven't seen any ants around, although I do see a couple of small
flies occasionally.
Would cutting the plants down to about 1cm above the soil help, or will
they just come again once the plants grow again?
Thanks,
Max

The small flies are probably either winged female aphids, or gnats. Aphids
prefer to feed off new growth, so cutting the plant back won't help.
Your best bet would be to continue to use the soap spray, until the aphids
find a new home or the predators can come out and keep the aphid population
in check. Otherwise there is always the synthetic pesticide approach.
-S

Aha... winged female aphids... would it be better if I place the pots
outside on the balcony then?
I have a feeling that the aphids came along with the plants when I
transplanted them from the garden into the pots. I have a mint plant
(very small... just a stem and four leaves) that's from a rooting and
till now it has no aphids on or around it.
I've read that planting chives, garlic or onions will also help.
Unfortunately I have no place in the pots for extra plants. Would it
make sense to chop up garlic and/or onions and place them on the soil
around the plants?
Max

I don't know about the other problems, bur I do know -Don't plant chives
with it!!
I heard the same thing, so I planted chives under my roses. The chives
ended up totally covered in aphids, as well as the roses.
Jen

Aha... winged female aphids... would it be better if I place the pots
outside on the balcony then?
I have a feeling that the aphids came along with the plants when I
transplanted them from the garden into the pots. I have a mint plant
(very small... just a stem and four leaves) that's from a rooting and
till now it has no aphids on or around it.
I've read that planting chives, garlic or onions will also help.
Unfortunately I have no place in the pots for extra plants. Would it
make sense to chop up garlic and/or onions and place them on the soil
around the plants?
Max

I've been doing some more research on the internet and I'm starting to
think that the problem is not aphids at all.
The plants (leaves and stems) have brown and black spots (not more than
1mm diameter each) and they don't move. They are stuck underneath the
leaves and along the stems. They can also be found on top of the
leaves. The spots are not actually within the leave membrane but on the
outer side... sort of miniscule domes.
As I said, I've pruned a plant by removing all leaves and treating the
stems with a soap mixture and also with pesticide. When new leaves
grow, the spots come back again.
Could it be a different kind of insect or a fungus infection?
Thanks,
Max

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